Beaches

The South has some impressive beaches. Beginning somewhere around South Carolina-ish, the beach transitions from the rock-based sand of the northern beaches to the coral-and-shell-based sand of the Deep South.  White sand predominates the beaches of Florida and the Gulf Coast, often lined with sea oats. They are very pretty and great for collecting shells. Caribbean islands and Puerto Rico can have blinding white sand.

The Carolinas change over with marshy areas along the barrier islands and move away from the white sand. Up north, we have golden and ‘sandy’ colored sand.

Further north, we abandon the concept of a beach and just go for ‘coastline.’ The rocky coasts of Maine are well-known, but are great for tide pools. Along the Great Lakes we have a variety of beach-like areas. Sleeping Bear Dunes and Indiana Dunes have normal sandy beaches and dunes.

Along the eastern side of Lake Huron you find pebbly beaches, which are great for finding shell fossils. Further north to Georgian Bay and the Canadian Shield the edge of the lakes are slabs of rock just angling into the water.

Beaches and coastlines come in many forms, but there seems to be more variety up north. Beaches are more enjoyable, however, down South.